


slow and soft and comforting

by thursdayknight



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Gift Giving, M/M, Soft boys being soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21956323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thursdayknight/pseuds/thursdayknight
Summary: Steve wakes up slow, and the world is quiet, there's snow falling outside their big bedroom window and Billy's lips on his shoulder."Morning, Princess," Billy says, voice just as slow and as soft and as comforting as the snow falling outside the window.Steve smiles. "Merry Christmas," he says, quiet. Billy's lips drag on his skin as Billy's head dips further down his arm.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 12
Kudos: 140
Collections: Stranger Trash Exchange Collection





	slow and soft and comforting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ihni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihni/gifts).



> The prompt list was:  
> "Idk? I like Billy being hungry (like, for food). I like misunderstandings. And scars. And gift-giving. And angst. And happy endings. And a LOT of other things" and I hope this delivers! There's no angst or misunderstandings, but I covered as many as I could. :)
> 
> Merry christmas, Ihni!

Steve wakes up slow and the world is quiet, there's snow falling outside their big bedroom window and Billy's lips on his shoulder. 

"Morning, Princess," Billy says, voice just as slow and as soft and as comforting as the snow falling outside the window.

Steve smiles. "Merry Christmas," he says, quiet. Billy's lips drag on his skin as Billy's head dips further down his arm.

He mumbles something so quietly, his lips pressed almost completely against Steve's skin that it takes Steve a second to interpret that Billy says: "Yeah, for once."

"Oh, it'll be more than once," Steve says as he runs his fingers through the curls falling over Billy's face. "This is only just the start." He lets his hand trail from Billy's hair to his face, fingers skating delicately down his cheek to cup his jaw. Billy groans and leans into the touch for the briefest of seconds before the groan cuts off in a grunt and Billy's saying:

"I gotta go shower," and he's up off the bed and running for the bathroom.

It's been a year and sometimes Billy's still terrible at moments like these, the quiet, soft, delicate ones, still runs just when things are getting good, but Steve's been working on it and he's going to keep working on it 'cause he knows from the smile on Billy's face every time he's leaving the room that he loves it, loves moments like this, he's just not used to having them. 

So Steve is going to keep making them happen until Billy's used to it, until it's normal and natural and second nature for them both to just sink into it and enjoy themselves, enjoy each other because after the lives they've lived, after the shit they've seen, they deserve it. 

The shower starts, the pipes groaning in protest at even that minimal level of effort and Steve sinks back into the bed, wrapping himself up in the blankets for a long moment before warily sticking a bare toe out onto the cold wood floor, then the rest of his foot, then the other. He stands with a noise like a building about to topple over and heads for the kitchen and their tiny, little coffee maker, the one they got from Joyce as a move-in present.

He switches the little beast on and yawns then stretches and turns to the cupboards, trying to decide what to make for breakfast. Ultimately, after not very many seconds of consideration, he decides on pancakes. 

He's halfway through making them and is halfway to wearing them with how much flour he's managed to get everywhere when the bathroom door is yanked open and Billy comes strolling out, hair still damp, barely dried off and not wearing anything, not even a towel, which is both not an uncommon sight as Billy spends at least fifty percent of his time in their apartment completely naked for one reason or another, and also something Steve is never going to get used to the fact that Billy struts around naked all the time and that he gets to look as much as he wants, whenever he wants. 

And oh, god, does he _want._

He watches as Billy stalks towards him, wraps his arms around his shoulders and breathes in deep, like Steve covered in flour is the absolute best thing he's ever smelled in his life. 

"I'm gonna-" Steve starts to say that he's gonna burn the pancakes, but Billy just presses his mouth to Steve's ear and smiles so wide Steve can  _ feel _ it. Billy starts pressing kisses to the shell of his ear then moves behind it, burying his nose into Steve's hair before sliding his lips down Steve's neck. 

Steve totally winds up burning the pancakes and it's absolutely worth it for the claiming, bruising bite marks Billy leaves on his neck. 

They eat the ones Steve had managed to make before Billy had come out of the shower and Steve makes a show of dragging his fingers through the leftover syrup on his plate once he's done then sticking them in his mouth and sucking on them noisily. 

Billy watches him hungrily but just continues to slowly eat his pancakes, like he's the one teasing Steve rather than the other way around. 

Eventually, after dragging it out as long as is humanly possible, Billy finishes eating and pushes his plate back on the table. Rather than acting on what Steve  _ knows _ he's feeling, Billy says, "Let's go open our presents now." 

So they do. 

They've gotten each other one present each and there are a few others nestled under the tree from Dustin and from Max and Lucas and Mike and from Robin. There's ones coming in the mail from Joyce and Will, but they haven't arrived yet.

The present from Dustin is actually cookies from his Mom, the one Max, Mike and Lucas all chipped in on is a new vinyl album, "Come Out and Play" by Twisted Sister, one of the few bands they can both agree on liking, and the one from Robin is a matching set of ugly Christmas sweaters that get immediately shoved into the corner by Billy and which Steve plans on rescuing later, when Billy isn't looking. 

As for the gifts they get each other, Billy gets Steve new cologne, one Billy likes because apparently, Steve's old one "smelled like garbage" - even though Steve knows it's really just that Billy hates that his old one is one he got from Nancy. 

As Billy opens his present from Steve he gives him a funny look, holding up the soft, gray sweatpants Steve had gotten him and raising an eyebrow as he says, "Are you trying to tell me something, Steve?" 

Steve shakes his head. "Not at all." He's mostly just terrible at presents and the sweatpants had looked soft, but instead of saying that he starts crawling across the floor towards Billy, crawling into his lap and kissing him senseless. 

It's a good Christmas. Probably the best one either of them has ever had.


End file.
